Jacqui

“Epistemology noun: a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods,and limits of human knowledge.”

Who I am in the family:

I am one of the many fortuitous tasters of the fruits of our kitchen, a sourcer(er) of local, responsible meats, veggies, and fruits, a fledgeling biohacker, a social theory and nutrition nerd, and lovingly referred to by Dad as “The Angry Foodist” (I suppose there is such a thing as too many rants about butter). I’m the older sibling of the lovely Hunter, the lucky daughter of Patricia (or Momma Bear), partner of the brilliant and beautiful Natalie, and cat-mom to Leo. I dearly love travel, cheese, pigs, Tolkien, and wine.

Why elevenses:

Despite my more scientific tendencies, I absolutely adore the entirety of the health-food-culture network. When I tell people that I’m in University right now and studying Sociology and Biology, I always get some variation of the response, “Really? That’s a funny match isn’t it?” I always love to respond back with, “Actually it’s perfect!”

That is one of the main reasons that elevenses became something I have to do: drawing the connections between the biology/nutrition/science aspect of food and bringing it back into it’s place in understandings of culture, tradition, and family – and vice versa. It’s important not only for me to bring that to share with my own family, but also help root myself in the fragmented world of those very same subjects.

What I want to bring to elevenses:

I named my column Epistème, the Greek predecessor of the word epistemology because I am passionate about ways of knowing. My aim in my column at elevenses is to explore, and maybe even bring together the different ways of knowing about health, food, and family.

I honestly believe wholeheartedly that we have so much to gain from re-attaching culture, story, and the physical world back together instead of trying to keep them apart like that’s how they belong.
One of my favourite quotes in Lord of the Rings (for obvious reasons) is: “He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.” Tolkien, you’re clearly after my heart.

What I want from elevenses:

My dream elevenses project:

My dream project would definitely have to be taking elevenses on the road to learn about the mysterious (and likely delicious) roots of Mom’s side of the family. I’m picturing tours of markets, cooking lessons from locals, farm visits, and loads of stories told over dishes I’ve only heard my Grandparents talk about.

It’s so fantastic to to able to say that I live a place that was the ancestral meeting place for the Woodland Cree on my Dad’s side of the family, and I can’t wait to get that same feeling in visiting northern France, Poland, and Israel where my Mom’s people called home.